————————Latè tibi gurgite ruptoAmbitur nigris Meroë fœcunda colonis,Læta comis hebeni; quæ quamvis arbore multâFrondeat, æstatem nullâ sibi mitigat umbrâ,Linea tam rectum mundi ferit illa leonem.Lucan.
————————Latè tibi gurgite ruptoAmbitur nigris Meroë fœcunda colonis,Læta comis hebeni; quæ quamvis arbore multâFrondeat, æstatem nullâ sibi mitigat umbrâ,Linea tam rectum mundi ferit illa leonem.Lucan.
————————Latè tibi gurgite ruptoAmbitur nigris Meroë fœcunda colonis,Læta comis hebeni; quæ quamvis arbore multâFrondeat, æstatem nullâ sibi mitigat umbrâ,Linea tam rectum mundi ferit illa leonem.Lucan.
————————Latè tibi gurgite rupto
Ambitur nigris Meroë fœcunda colonis,
Læta comis hebeni; quæ quamvis arbore multâ
Frondeat, æstatem nullâ sibi mitigat umbrâ,
Linea tam rectum mundi ferit illa leonem.
Lucan.
Having refreshed ourselves for near two hours by the enjoyment of this water at Imgellalib, and raked a sufficient quantity of sand over the dead bodies of our two companions, from piety and decency rather than for use, we abandoned them to the hyænas, who had already smelled the mortality, and were coming, two and three together, at the distance of a long shot from the well where we were then drinking. We set out at eleven, our road being thro' a very extensive plain; and, at two in the afternoon, we alighted at another well, called Garigana; the water was bad, and in small quantity. In this plain is situated the principal village of Atbara, called Teawa. The thermometer, slung under the camel, in the shade of the girba of water, had yet, nevertheless, varied within these three hours from 111° to 119-1/2.
At five o'clock we left Garigana, our journey being still to the eastward of north; and, at a quarter past six in the evening, arrived at the village of that name, whose inhabitants hadall perished with hunger the year before; their wretched bones being all unburied and scattered upon the surface of the ground where the village formerly stood. We encamped among the bones of the dead; no space could be found free from them; and on the 23d, at six in the morning, full of horror at this miserable spectacle, we set out for Teawa: this was the seventh day from Ras el Feel. After an hour's travelling we came to a small river, which still had water standing in some considerable pools, although its banks were perfectly destitute of any kind of shade.
At three quarters after seven in the evening we arrived at Teawa, the principal village and residence of the Shekh of Atbara, between three and four miles from the ruins of Garigana. The whole distance, then, from Hor-Cacamoot, may be about sixty-five miles to Teawa, as near as I then could compute; that is, from Hor-Cacamoot to Rashid, thirty-two miles, and from Rashid to Teawa, thirty-three miles; but Rashid from Hor-Cacamoot bears N. W. and by N. and the latitudes are:—
The difference of longitude is then but five or six miles; so that Teawa is very little to the westward of due north from Hor-Cacamoot, and nearly in the same meridian with Ras el Feel, which is four miles west of Hor-Cacamoot. From Imhanzara to Teawa, but especially from Imgellalib, wewent always to the eastward of north. From Teawa we observed the following bearings and distances:
Beyla, W. S. W. about 28 miles at farthest.Hasib, S. and by W.Jibbel Imsiddera, S. about 8 miles, where is good water.Mendera, N. 48 miles; indifferent water from deep wells.Rashid, S. nearly 33 miles; plenty of good water all the year.Jibbel Isriff, E. N. E. about three miles; water.Jibbel Attesh and Habharras, W. and by N. between 50 and 60 miles.Sennaar, W. and by N. as far as we could guess about 70 miles.Guangue River, from 14 to 16 miles due east.Derkin, E. N. E. about 27 miles.
Beyla, W. S. W. about 28 miles at farthest.
Hasib, S. and by W.
Jibbel Imsiddera, S. about 8 miles, where is good water.
Mendera, N. 48 miles; indifferent water from deep wells.
Rashid, S. nearly 33 miles; plenty of good water all the year.
Jibbel Isriff, E. N. E. about three miles; water.
Jibbel Attesh and Habharras, W. and by N. between 50 and 60 miles.
Sennaar, W. and by N. as far as we could guess about 70 miles.
Guangue River, from 14 to 16 miles due east.
Derkin, E. N. E. about 27 miles.
At Garigana, several of our caravan, with their asses and loading of salt, left us, either afraid of entering Teawa, or because their friends dwelt at Jibbel Isriff, where the clan of Jehaina were then encamped, being afraid of the Arabs Daveina, who, the preceding year, had destroyed all the crops and villages that belonged to them, or rather reaped them for their own advantage. The whole tribe of Jehaina is greatly their inferiors in all respects, and as by assembling upon Jibbel Isriff, a low though very rugged ridge of hills, abounding in water, where the pits in which they hide their grain were, and where, too, they had deposited the principal of their effects, they had given this pledge of mutual assistance to the inhabitants of Teawa in case of an attack from those great destroyers the Daveina.
The Daveina being Arabs, who constantly live in tents, bear a mortal enmity to all who inhabit villages, and, as occasion offered, had destroyed, starved, and laid waste the greatest part of Atbara. They had been outlawed by the government of Sennaar for having joined Yasous II. upon the expedition against that kingdom. They had ever since been well-received by the Abyssinians, lived independent, and in perpetual defiance of the government of Sennaar. They had often threatened Teawa, but had given the Shekh of Beyla an assurance of friendship ever since Yasine had married a daughter of that Shekh.
The strength of Teawa was about 25 horse, of which about ten were armed with coats of mail. They had about a dozen of firelocks, very contemptible from the order in which they were kept, and still more so from the hands that bore them. The rest of the inhabitants might amount to twelve hundred men, naked, miserable, and despicable Arabs, like the rest of those that live in villages, who are much inferior in courage to the Arabs that dwell in tents: weak as its state was, it was the seat of government, and as such a certain degree of reverence attended it. Fidele, the Shekh of Atbara, was reputed by his own people a man of courage; this had been doubted at Sennaar. Welled Hassan, his father, had been employed by Nasser the son, late king of Sennaar, in the murder of his father and sovereign Baady, which he had perpetrated, as I have already mentioned. Such was the state of Teawa. Its consequence was only to remain till the Daveina should resolve to attack it, when its corn-fields being burnt and destroyed in a night by a multitude of horsemen, the bones of its inhabitants scattered uponthe earth, would be all its remains, like those of the miserable village of Garigana.
I have already observed, in the beginning of the journey, that the Shekh of the Arabs Nile, who resided in Abyssinia, near Ras el Feel, since the expedition of Yasous, had warned me, at Hor-Cacamoot, to distrust the fair promises and friendly professions of Shekh Fidele, and had, indeed, raised such doubts in my mind, that, had not the Daveina been parted from Sim Sim, (or the confines of Abyssinia) though there would have been a risk, that if, coming with that tribe, I should have been-ill received at Sennaar, I nevertheless would have travelled with them, rather than by Teawa; but the Daveina were gone.
The Shekh of Atbara, having no apparent interest to deceive us, had hitherto been a friend as far as words would go, and had promised every thing that remained in his power; but, for fear of the worst, Nile had given us a confidential man, who was related to the Jehaina and to the principal Shekh of that tribe. This man conducted an ass, loaded with salt, among the other Arabs of the caravan, and was to set off to Ras el Feel upon the first appearance of danger, which he was to learn by coming once in two days, or oftner, either to Teawa, where he was no farther known than as being one of the Jehaina, or to the river, where my Soliman was to meet him at the pools of water; but his secret was only known to Soliman, myself, and a Greek servant, Michael. From leaving Hor-Cacamoot, he had no personal interview with me; but the night, when we were like to perish for thirst in the wood, he had sent me, by Soliman, privately, a horn-full of water, which he had in his goat's skin, andfor which I had rewarded him handsomely in the instant, glad of that opportunity of confirming him in his duty.
This man we set off to Jibbel Isriff, as a stranger, with orders not to come to us till the third day; for we were well-persuaded, whatever the end was to be, that our first reception would be a gracious one. Indeed we were all of us inclined to believe, that our suspicions of Fidele Shekh of Atbara, and of his intentions towards us, were rather the effects of the fear that Shekh Nile had infused into us, than any apprehension which we could reasonably form after so many promises; at the same time, it was agreed on all hands, that, life being at stake, we could not be too careful, in providing means that could, if the worst happened, at the least diminish our risk.